Cold Weather Tests Bobsledders' Resolve

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, February 14, 2003

AP Sports Writer

Even though he adjusted his schedule to concentrate on the Bobsled World Championships on home ice, Todd Hays wasn't at all certain that strategy would help.

"I feel like I do have an advantage, but these guys have had quite a while on the track now, and after several trips it seems like they're dialing it in pretty well," said Hays, set to start fifth Saturday in the first two heats in the two-man race.

"Looking at training, one guy goes fast one day, and the next day someone else is extremely fast. Right now, it's really tough to predict."

The weather isn't, and it promises to be a big factor. Less than three hours before training began at 9 a.m. Friday, the thermometer at Adirondack Regional Airport in nearby Saranac Lake read 33 below zero.

Wind gusted as high as 23 mph during training. Athletes were so cold they had trouble talking about it, and in idle moments crowded around a small heater in the room where the sleds are weighed.

"If you can unfreeze your jaw, you can talk," Mike Kohn said after qualifying USA-2 for his first World Championships as a driver. "But I've been here since January sliding on this track, so for me this is kind of normal. It's been real cold all year, so I'm kind of acclimated, I guess. I don't know any better at this point."

"Teams were begging to move training back to 10 so that it would be warmer," said Sandy Caligiore of the New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates the venue. "Why, so it would be 30 below instead of 33 below?"

Hays will use Randy Jones of Atlanta as his brakeman instead of Garrett Hines, who injured his back during practice Wednesday.

The pair did very well on their final day of training at the 3-year-old Mount Van Hoevenberg track, easily besting the two-man record of 55.65 seconds that Hays, of Del Rio, Texas, set just over a year ago. Hays piloted USA-1 down the 20-turn, mile-long chute in an unofficial time of 55.47 seconds despite a slow start of 5.32 seconds _ 0.23 off his track record _ that still was the fastest of the day.

Hays, 33, won his first World Cup race here two years ago in the season finale and followed it with three straight wins the next fall as he rose to the pinnacle of the sport. He helped the U.S. men's team end a 46-year medal drought at the Winter Olympics, winning the four-man silver at Salt Lake City last year while Brian Shimer won bronze in USA-2.

Shimer, who retired after the race and is now a coach with the U.S. team, liked Friday night's draw. He didn't like the weather forecast, though, which called for more of the same.

The overnight low Friday was projected at 25 below, and the high Saturday was not expected to go above zero. The daytime high Sunday, when the medals will be decided, was predicted to be 10 above. Heats begin each day at 9 a.m.

"The cold is something that we're struggling with at this point," said Shimer, who won bronze in two-man and four-man in the 1997 World Championships at St. Moritz. "We're not prepared for the weather, and I'm not sure many teams are. These are extreme conditions. I think you'll see some surprises."

"I think it's going to be an advantage for those countries that have the types of steel that run well in the cold," said Kohn, who will have Ivan Radcliff as his brakeman. "The ones that don't are going to struggle."